Loonakids: Nightmare in Acmetropolis
by MileyLoonaticsFan96
Summary: When Kelly and Robert have strange dreams and people begin disappearing, the team knows something's up. The situation becomes even more clear when Robert disappears. Will Jack actually HELP for once? Sequel to "Mars in March"
1. Chapter 1

Loonakids: Nightmare in Acmetropolis

Chapter 1

Kelly Coyote lay in her bed. She tossed and turned, trying to get some sleep. She couldn't do it with this nightmare rushing through her head:

_She was surrounded entirely in darkness. She took one step and saw a flash and then an image:_

_A dead body with no eyes._

_She whimpered silently and then took another step:_

_Her mother, Sophie Coyote, screaming in pain._

_Every step she took showed another disturbing image, each one frightening her the same. She tried to stop walking but it didn't work. Finally she saw own death and screamed._

She woke up. She looked at her alarm clock. 5:31 am. There was no way she was going to be able to go back to sleep.

* * *

Kelly was in her father, Tech's lab that afternoon, explaining her dream to him as he tried to put together his latest device.

"…And I couldn't even wake up until I saw my own death and screamed."

"Do you think it was the Whisperers?"

"No, I couldn't hear any voices."

"Well, what if-" Tech didn't say anymore before he crossed the wrong wires and electrocute himself, leaving a pile of ashes. He regenerated. "I hate my life. I hate my life. I-"

"Dad!"

"Right, sorry." Tech got up. "You know, your mom's gonna freak if she hears about this."

"I know. That's why I came to you first."

"I wonder if your powers were kicking in and your subconscious was warning you, somehow, about your next mission."

"And what would associate a dead body with no eyes with a Ghost piercing a cat with a dagger?"

"Uh…2 different villains?"

Rev Runner then zoomed in. "Guys-I-think-I-found-something-for-you-I-was-looking-around-the-internet…"

"Rev…" Kelly started.

"…and-I-think-that-it-might-be-an-interesting-case-for-you-guys-and…"

"Rev!"

"…maybe-you-could-even-get-to-"

"REV!" both coyotes shouted.

"Sorry."

"Now start over," Kelly suggested, "And slow down."

"Well…I found a case for you guys…I-told-the-others-already-get-in-here." He zoomed off.

Kelly looked at her dad, shrugged and went into the living room to meet with the rest of the group.

"OK, Rev," Benny Bunny said, "what do you got?" Rev handed him a stack of paper. Benny looked at them. "15 disappearances?"

"In-the-same-week."

Nadine Bunny, Benny's older sister, looked at one of them and then picked up another. "I'll admit that the time span is interesting, but these people have absolutely nothing in common."

Kelly went over and looked at one. "Not personality-wise or in occupation, but check out the behavior from the week before each disappearance."

Lucy Bunny, Nadine and Benny's youngest sister, looked at the one Kelly was holding. "Strange dreams…isolating themselves…random bursts of different emotions and/or sentences and phrases with no meaning…"

"Sure sounds weird to me," Lexi Bunny, Nadine, Benny, and Lucy's mom.

"Then maybe we should go investigate," said Jack Duck.

"Don't think so," Sarah Coyote, Tech and Sophie's second daughter, grabbing the papers from Nadine and Kelly, "They all disappeared from different parts of the planet. This guy disappeared from Acme Australia, this one from Acme France, this one was…eaten by a penguin?"

Rev grabbed that one. "Sorry. That-doesn't-go-in-here."

"OK…" Michael Coyote, Sarah and Kelly's little brother, "Who disappeared nearest?"

Sarah took a closer look at them. "Oh, this one vanished from just down the street."

"OK, let's go there." Michael jumped up.

"Uh, aren't we forgetting something?" Ryan Coyote, the eldest boy of the coyote litter.

Kelly looked down and realized that they still had to change into their uniforms. "Right, almost forgot."

Each of the 9 kids hit a button on their watches and they were immediately in a black-and-(insert color here) uniforms. Nadine was in pink, Benny in yellow, Lucy in brown, Robert Runner in red, Jack in orange, Kelly in silver, Ryan in green, Sarah in blue, and Michael in purple.

"Now we can go." Kelly led her family out.

They made their way to the house where the disappearance had occurred.

Sarah screamed and knocked the door off its hinges. She could faintly hear a crash and a cat screeching. "Sorry! Didn't mean to do that!"

Ryan groaned and walked in. He looked around. The place was fine. There was no sign of a struggle, no blood, no…wait a minute… Ryan went over to the desk and tried to open the drawer. It was locked. "Michael."

Michael came up. His eyes glowed purple as he turned into bear. He swiped his claw against the locked and the drawer flew open. He turned back.

Jack came up and looked inside. There was a glowing purple diamond on a black chain inside. His eyes glowed orange and the diamond lifted up.

"Good idea, Jack," said Ryan, "We probably shouldn't touch that thing until we know what it is." He dragged Jack off, and thus took the diamond with him.

* * *

Daniella Runner, Robert's mom, examined the diamond, still not letting Jack drop it.

"Can you hurry it up?" Jack asked (his eyes had stopped glowing but the diamond still had an orange shimmer around it), "I'm starting to get a headache."

"Fine." Daniella put on a glove and pinched the chain with her thumb and forefinger, allowing Jack to finally drop his power…and faint. "No one touch this thing until we know what it is. I've actually seen touching a diamond kill a guy." She walked off.

Jack got up. "That sure makes me feel better."

Kelly led the rest of the team in. "That was it. There was nothing else suspicious at the house." She sat down. "Looks like we have a mystery on our hands."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Robert hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, so he decided to take a nap about an hour after the examination of the house, while his mom was studying the amulet. Unfortunately, he seemed to be experiencing the same problem as Kelly had:

_He fell to the ground in the dark place. His hand flinched just one centimeter and another image swarmed his brain in a single flash of light:_

_His mother's heart being cut out._

_He couldn't stand it and finally lie flat on his stomach, afraid to move at all. Even though he didn't, another flash came, revealing another image:_

_His own death._

_He rolled over and screamed._

Robert woke up. He heard the alarm go off and scrambled out of his bed, wrapping himself up in the blankets and falling onto the floor. "Zadavia's calling."

* * *

The Loonakids came up to the park to find a giant bear-looking-like creature. Zadavia said that it was a cannibal creature so it might be behind the disappearances. The team started to attack.

Jack caught sight of a knife lying on the ground. His eyes glowed orange again and the knife lifted up and flew at the creature.

The creature just batted it out of the way at the last second…making it go flying back at Jack.

"Uh oh, that's not good!" Jack flew out of the way, making the knife act like a boomerang and go flying back at them.

Kelly scooted out the way, followed by Ryan and Lucy. Eventually, the knife made its way back to the creature. The knife pierced the creature in the stomach, but its tail grew so that it pulled the knife out and the wound healed. The creature threw the knife back at them. They all flew out of the way again. They didn't expect that that would give the creature safe passage to a sewer access. The creature ran for the sewer access and began to melt through.

Lucy's eyes glowed brown and a force field formed around the manhole cover, trapping the creature inside. She let the cover drop through, but pulled the creature back and trapped its melted form in a jar. She turned to Jack. "Really?"

* * *

Jack was on the roof of HQ, bouncing a ball on a wooden box.

Wendy and Duck came up.

"Hey," Duck said, "We heard about what happened."

"I messed up again and almost lost us the mission," Jack said.

"Yeah, that was pretty much what they said," Duck said.

Wendy shot her husband a look. "Look, Jack, I can understand how-"

"124."

"What?"

"That's how many missions I've messed up since I started apprenticing, 124!"

"Alright, I think you're just over-exaggerate-"

Jack got up and turned the box around to reveal that they'd been keeping tally.

"Oh."

Duck groaned. "Look, kid, I messed up more than that!"

"Really?"

"Well…no, not really, but I've messed up a lot. The point is, all that just shows you…what not to do the next time a similar situation comes around."

"Yeah, like Tech's always saying," Wendy said, "'Edison messed up over 100 times trying to invent a light-bulb before finally succeeding and saying, "I didn't fail 100 times. I found 100 ways how not to make a light-bulb."'"

Jack smiled. "1: That's kind of funny. 2: The coyote's got a point. I think I've got this down." He sat down on the box and it broke, making him fall on the roof. "Or…I have myself down."

* * *

Robert stayed in his room all day. In his mind, he was absolutely going crazy. Finally, while everyone was asleep, he jumped into his bed and tried to get some more sleep.

…_Lucy screaming…_

…_Jack piercing himself with a dagger…_

…_Robert himself dying…_

It was raining outside now. A storm had come out of nowhere after he'd fallen asleep. There was a blinding flash of lightning and Robert disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Daniella was first to get up the next morning. She set to work on the amulet thing immediately and eventually woke up her husband, who went to check on Robert.

Rev rushed back in to the room. "Robert's-not-there!"

"What?"

"I said…"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID!" Daniella ran out and checked her son's room. Sure enough, it was empty! "Where is he?"

"I-don't-know!"

"Well, what did you-?"

"HEY!"

Daniella and Rev turned to see that they'd woken up the rest of the group.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked.

"Robert's gone."

* * *

Jack walked down a street. The team had split up to look for Robert. Suddenly, he stopped at a street corner… _Wait a minute…"strange dreams"…he couldn't sleep…"isolating themselves"…he was in his room all day…"random bursts of different emotions and/or sentences and phrases with no meaning"…Nadine said she'd tried to read his mind and couldn't understand what he was saying…that means that he was just another one of the disappearances, so that bear guy wasn't our culprit! _He heard something and saw a flash coming from the inside of a nearby building. He went over to the building, cracked open the door silently, and tiptoed in. He came to a room that was huge, but had nothing but a crystal ball with a girl sitting next to it.

"…and since they're trapped on the DreamScape, their life essence just keeps coming to me. And now that I have one of the Loonakids under the spell, it shouldn't be long before I have all their power…and I'm talking to nobody."

Jack ran out. He knew what was going on! He darted up to the living room as fast as he could, forgetting entirely about the elevator and taking the stairs up 134 floors, and found the rest of the group waiting for him. He tried to tell them what had happened, but the long run had knocked out all his breath.

"Whoa, Jack," Benny said, "Did you find anything?"

Same answer, but he seemed to be shaking his head.

"Is that a 'no, I didn't find him' or a 'no, I can't talk yet'?" Lucy asked.

Jack pointed to her, still wheezing.

"Is that a 'yes, I found something' or 'yes, I can't talk yet'?" Sarah asked.

Jack glared at her, still trying to breathe.

"How about instead of playing 'Huff, Puff, and Charades', we let him calm down?" Ace suggested.

Jack used his power to pull over a bottle of water and sat down. "I…found…I…" He still couldn't talk.

"Whoa!" Wendy said, "Would you-"

"I'm trying to talk, Mom."

"I can see that."

Jack gave her a look and finally caught his breath. "OK…I found a building and there was a woman inside casting a spell. She said something about the disappeared people being trapped on the DreamScape and that she was taking their…presents or something…"

"Essence?" Daniella asked.

"That's it!"

"And we're supposed to believe you about this after the incident yesterday, why?" Kelly asked.

"Kelly's got a point," said Nadine, "Your track record speaks for itself."

"Hey, I heard what I heard!"

"Did you actually see who she was?"

"Well, no, she kind of had her back turned to me the whole time, but-"

"124, Jack, 124!" Sarah said before walking off.

"I hate to say it, but I'm going with my sister on this one," said Michael before walking off with her.

"And as my brother goes, so goes my nation," Ryan said, walking off, too.

Kelly shrugged. "Hate to go against the family." She walked off, too.

Nadine just gave him a look and dragged her brother and sister off.

Jack turned to the ex-heroes for support.

"Oh, I think I heard Gabby wake up!" Sophie said, struggling for an excuse to get out of the room, "I'd better go check one her!" She scrambled out.

"And…I'll help her with that," Tech said, scrambling out, too.

Lexi pulled the same thing. "Uh, Ace, I think the morning sickness is coming back. Come on!" She pulled her husband off the same way that Nadine had done with Benny and Lucy.

"I've gotta go research some more on the amulet." Daniella left.

"And-_I'm_-gonna-help-_her_-with-_that_," Rev said, speeding out after her.

Slam just shrugged and walked off after the others, leaving the 2 ducks and Wendy alone.

Wendy smiled mischievously and sat down next to her son. "I'm not supposed to tell you about really powerful spells before you get your full power, but I have a spell that can put you 8 on the DreamScape so that you can find Robert and prove that this girl is behind the whole thing."

"Hmm, let me think," Jack said, holding out his hands like weights, "Use magic to clear my name or let this slide until my cousin most likely dies…" He weighed out his hands and then looked back at his parents. "I'm in."

* * *

Duck lit a candle and laid it down on the floor, completing a circle of them with Wendy in the center.

Wendy looked at her husband and son, glanced at the spell book on her lap one last time to make sure she wouldn't forget the incantation, and then closed her eyes. "_Upon this building, I place an enchantment, that all who sleep in it tonight shall join in their dreams, and that lives may be saved and another spell broken, for everything is not what it seems._" Jack tossed her a gem and she caught it perfectly, still not opening her eyes. Finally, she opened her eyes and placed the gem on the floor. It seemed to rattle and then the candles' flames all blew out.

"Is that good?" Duck asked.

"Well, it means the spell's completed and that it will activate at sunset," Wendy explained, "Which is…" She looked at her watch (she didn't have a high-tech watch like the Loonakids, so hers actually told time). "3…2…1…" She looked at the 2 ducks. "Showtime."

* * *

After gathering up the spell stuff and putting it away, Wendy and Duck had raced Jack to his room so that he could get ready to fall into the spell and access the DreamScape with the other 7 Loonakids and then ran into the living room.

Wendy was delighted to find that the other 7 kids had already gotten ready to go to bed and that the other 7 adults were the only ones in the living room. She hurriedly tried to think of a way to tell them that they couldn't go to sleep tonight. "Hey, guys…how are you doing?"

Duck gave her a look. _Real subtle._

Daniella, who was so bored that she'd gotten out her wand and started waving it to watch the magic dust fly off it, looked at her sister. "Well, I'm getting kind of tired." She put up her wand and got up from the couch. "I was thinking of turning in early like the kids."

"No!" Daniella gave Wendy a curious look at that. "I mean…your bed's full of rats!"

"Rats?"

"Big rats. They should clear out by sunrise but, uh-"

"You did the DreamScape spell, didn't you?"

"What? No…yes…"

Daniella crossed her arms at her sister. "Great. Now none of us can fall asleep in this building until sunrise."

"How do you expect us to stay awake for 8 hours?" Sophie asked.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Duck went over to her. "Every 20 minutes, or as soon as it looks like one of us is dozing off, we can…" He picked up a glass of ice cold water and splashed it in her face.

Sophie gave him a look and then pushed him so hard that what was left of the water splashed him in the face. "I'm not even tired!"

"See? My plan's working!"


	4. Chapter 4

Just so you don't get confused, the names in brackets are the characters shown at the time the action is taken and the same is gonna go for the coyotes in the next chapter or 2.

Chapter 4

Nadine was the first in bed that night while Jack, Duck, and Wendy had been casting the spell. After the spell activated, she gently drifted up, her heartbeat slowing to a steady pace.

Benny and Lucy found themselves caught under the same circumstances, so they were all sharing a dream…sort of…

On the DreamScape, Nadine, Benny, and Lucy were all in the same dark room, but they couldn't see each other. [Nadine] opened a door and walked through it into a large room with a lot more light. [Lucy] walked through it and heard a "Pst" and turned around.

There was a bald guy standing on the other side of a desk. "I made a little space for the cheese slices." He gestured to a row of American cheese on the table.

[Benny] nodded and moved on. [He] opened another door, desperate to get away from the cheese guy and saw a big hairy creature run through another door in the shadows. [He] couldn't see what it was, just that it was…well, big and hairy. [Lucy] backed up and ran into the door, closing it. [Nadine] turned around turned around and tried to open it, but it had locked itself. [Lucy] backed away and ran into Lexi. [Nadine] turned to face [her] mother.

"Things aren't going very well," "Lexi" said.

"What do you mean?" [Lucy] asked, "We…there's something following me, isn't there?"

"Lexi" nodded.

"What do we do?" [Nadine] asked.

"You don't understand yet, do you? Everyone's starting wonder about you. The _real_ you. And when they find out, they'll punish you. I can't help you with that."

"Well, what should we…I…what's after me?" [Benny] asked. [Switch to Nadine.] "Is there something I was supposed to do or-"

"Lexi" shushed her. They could now hear a buzzing noise.

"What's that?" [Lucy] asked. [She] looked around the room. [Switch to Nadine as she comes back around.] "What…Mom?" [She] looked around to find that "Lexi" was gone. "OK, this isn't funny!"

Before [change to Benny here] could say anymore, the wall burst open and a sword went flying through. [He] ducked just in time. [Nadine] got up and saw a hand reaching through and grabbing [her]. [Lucy] found [herself] being pulled through, screaming.

"Whoa, calm down."

[Nadine] turned to find that it was just [Kelly from Nadine's POV, Ryan from Benny's, and Sarah from Lucy's]. "Oh, it's you. You freaked me out!"

[Kelly] scoffed. "Get down!" [She] pulled [Nadine] onto the ground and they started to crawl to the other side of the room. "So what is it?"

"I don't know," [Lucy] said, "But something's after me."

"Well," [Sarah] reasoned, "you must have _done_ something!"

"What?" [Benny] said, "I'm a superhero, I tend not to do bad stuff. I'm actually supposed to _stop_ bad stuff from happening."

[Ryan] stood up. "Come on. Everyone knows already."

[Nadine] stood up, too. "What are you talking about?"

[Kelly] gave [her] best friend a look. "Very funny. I think you know what I'm talking about."

[Lucy] gave [her] a look back. "No, I really don't!"

[Sarah] groaned. "For crying out loud!" [She] zapped [her].

[Benny] fell against the wall. "OK, what is going-" Before [he] could finish his sentence, the creature [he] had seen in the shadows earlier knocked [him] down. [Lucy] turned over to try and fight the thing, but [she] could barely move.

[Kelly] crossed her arms. "I warned you."

Off the DreamScape, all 3 bunnies were locked in the nightmare, not knowing they were asleep and thinking that they were about to be killed by this strange creature.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kelly and Ryan had gotten in bed last, but still at the same time. Kelly always had trouble going to sleep so she was rather surprised when she found out the next day that she'd fallen asleep 5 minutes earlier than Ryan, but the 2 still shared a dream the same way as the 3 bunnies…

On the DreamScape, [Kelly] was on the floor of the basement of HQ. [She] looked up and saw that a single lamp was on…but they hadn't put a lamp in the basement… [She] got up and looked around. "Hello?"

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door and the knob started rattling.

[Ryan] spun around to face it. "OK, I didn't _order_ any demons or anything!"

The door just kept making those weird noises.

[Ryan] started to back up. "OK, that's not the way out." [He] turned around and ran for the back door. [Kelly] came through the door and closed it. Instead of being on the stairwell that led to the foyer, [she] was now in a park at daytime.

Sophie was in a sandbox, lying on her belly next to baby Gabby and Tech was dangling on a swing a few yards away.

[Ryan] walked up to [his] parents. "Hey. There you are."

"Are you sure it was us you were looking for?" "Sophie" asked, expressionlessly as Gabby pounded the sand with a plastic shovel.

[Kelly] looked at [her] baby sister. "Are you sure you should let Gabby playing there? It's a rather big sandbox."

"I'm OK." "Sophie" was suddenly in front of a large desert. "It's not coming for me."

"I get that," [Kelly] said, "It's just that…you can't protect yourself from some stuff and Gabby can't protect herself at all."

"Way ahead of you, [bro]."

[Ryan] was both shocked and confused. "[Brother]?"

[His] mother just looked at [him] expressionlessly and the whole time "Tech" stared at them in silence.

Suddenly, [Kelly] was on the other side of the road. [She] turned to see [Sarah with Benny from her POV and Michael with Nadine from Ryan's] sitting on a bench nearby. "OK, what are you doing here?"

[Sarah] turned to look at [her] [sister]. "Sorry." Weird thing about that statement? [Kelly] could hear [her] voice, but [her] lips weren't moving. [Michael] turned back to face [Nadine]. "Watch this."

[Kelly stared at her sister, pretty much disgustedly. Ryan was staring at Michael, jealously.]

[Sarah] turned back to [Kelly]. "See if you can follow us." [Sarah took Benny's hand and the 2 turned invisible. Nadine and Michael disappeared in a puff of fire].

[Kelly] looked around and found herself back in the basement. [Ryan] turned and saw the cheese guy from the bunnies' dream next to him, holding up cheese slices.

"These will not protect you."

[Ryan] looked at him funny and then backed up to the back door again and walked through, finding [himself] in the hall outside [his] room. [He] turned just in time to see the big creature crawling through the shadows and disappearing. [Kelly] gasped and then felt a hand grab [her] shoulder and whipped around. "Dad."

"What are you doing here?" "Tech" asked.

"What's after me?" [Ryan] asked.

"Look, the others are gone already," "Tech" continued, oblivious to what [Ryan] had said, "Now listen carefully. Your life may depend on what I'm about to tell you. What you need to do is…" The rest of what he said came out in French (and there were no subtitles, I might add).

[Kelly] was confused. "W-What?"

"Tech" said something else, but it still came out in French.

[Sophie from Kelly's POV, Nadine from Ryan's] came up. "Look…" More French.

"That's what I said!" "Tech" said (whether or not that was still in French, I'm not certain).

"OK," [Ryan] said, "I'm confused." [Switch to Kelly.] "I can't hear you." Something pulled [her] aside and [she] went through the wall. Now [she] was back in the basement.

Finally, the door burst open to reveal the girl Jack had seen bursting open the door.

"Hey," [Ryan] said, "You're not-" Before [he] could finish, the big, hairy creature jumped through the door, going right through the girl, and knocked [him] to the ground.

The creature pinned [Kelly] to the ground and ripped [her] heart out. Even after it left [her] body, it was still beating.

In their beds, both elder coyotes were writhing in pain under the blankets in their beds. [Zoom in on Sarah and Michael.]

* * *

Sophie repeatedly banged her head on the wall. "Is it sunrise yet?"

Duck flinched his arm just enough to dump some more water on her…even though he was sitting down and she was facing away from him. You wouldn't believe what people can do when they don't get their sleep. Anyway, he'd dumped water on her.

"Thanks, I needed that."

Daniella, who was now sprawled out in Rev's lap on the couch, looked at her own watch. "We still have about 7 hours." Everyone else groaned. "Hey, I'm not Father Time. I can't fix it." She started thinking. "Then again, I'm pretty certain our great-aunt _dated_ Father Time, but that's a completely different story."

"We'd better hope the hope that the kids on the DreamScape are doing better than we are," said Wendy.

They weren't.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

[Sarah] found herself on a street. [She] walked down it, looking around to see what was going on. After about a minute, [Michael] turned around again and ran into the cheese guy…who had the cheese on his head this time.

"I wear the cheese, it does not wear me." Cheese guy walked off.

"Honestly," [Michael] said, "You can meet the strangest people." [Sarah] walked down the street some more and came to a street corner. There was a fair on the next street in place of the simple residence buildings or business…buildings. [She] walked down the street a bit and saw a crowd arranged in the middle of the road where there was normally a lot of traffic. [Michael] turned and saw Sophie sitting down next to a table and staring at a cauldron with a wooden spoon stirring itself inside. [Sarah] walked up to [her] mother. "What are you doing? Aren't you and Aunt Danni always telling us that we're not supposed to use magic in front of mortals who don't know about magic?"

"It's a fair, they expect you to do stuff like…this." "Sophie" snapped her fingers and the spoon stopped stirring itself and pinkish-purple dust rose out of the cauldron, forming the shape of a rabbit with wings hopping…well, just hopping, really.

While the crowd was taking interest in that, [Sarah] rolled her eyes and walked down the street some more, coming to a building. [Michael] walked inside and found [himself] in a dance club. [He] sat down on a couch and realized that it was the couch from the living room at HQ and that the bunnies and [his] sister(s) and brother were sitting next to [him].

That's when Sarah and Michael separated. They weren't in the same place anymore, at least not while the group was all together.

"Sorry we're late," said Sarah, "We've got a lot going on here."

"And all at once," said Michael.

"Don't we know it!" Lucy said, "All at death's door over here! And look what this thing did to Ryan and Kelly!"

Ryan and Kelly sat up straighter in their seats to reveal the stains of blood on their clothes from having their hearts ripped out.

"Ooh…" Sarah looked around. "Where's Jack?"

"I guess this thing's not pulled him through yet," said Nadine, "Or maybe he just skipped out on Aunt Wendy."

The group turned to the stage to see that in the place of the band, Wendy was now at the microphone. "OK, so this guy walks into a doctor's office and…uh…there's this…thing on his head, it…" She pulled out some cue cards and started sorting through them. "What is it a duck, or-"

"You stink!" some guy from the audience yelled.

"Quiet!" Wendy snapped, "You'll miss the humorous conclusion!"

"I don't blame him," Michael said (still referring to Jack if you don't know).

"Do you know this is his fault?" said Kelly.

"Now let's jump to conclusions," Sarah said.

"Who's jumping?" Nadine asked, "This is totally his fault! Something's after us!"

"And then the duck," Wendy continued, "said 'There's a man attached to my tail!'" The audience (except for the kids, of course) laughed. "See, it was the duck and not the man that spoke." The audience (still not counting the kids) applauded and Wendy waved and walked off.

"Are you sure it didn't have to do with that?" asked Michael.

"Oh, sure, Aunt Wendy's joke ripped my heart out!" Kelly snapped.

"Well, you've gotta admit, it wasn't that funny," Michael said.

"Michael!" Lucy yelled, grabbing his attention, "There's gotta be some explanation and I'm fairly certain Jack had something to do with it."

Kelly's eyes flashed silver. "Huh. Even on the DreamScape, I can get just plain old visions." Everyone turned to face her. "I know what happened. Aunt Wendy cast some spell on HQ so that anyone who fell asleep in it tonight would be locked on the DreamScape so that we could find Robert and prove Jack's crazy theory!"

Sarah and Michael got up at the same time, producing a return to the "same time, same place, can't see each other"…thing. [Sarah] looked at her friends. "We've gotta find Jack and tell him what this crazy spell did so that he can tell us how to wake up…assuming he knows." [She] started to walk off and then stopped. [Michael] turned around to face them again. "In the meantime, try looking in one of those books."

The others saw some book laid out on a table in front of them and picked them up, flipping through them.

[Sarah] rolled her eyes and walked off. [She] came to a dark room backstage. [Michael] didn't need to turn around to know that the creature was in the room. "I know who you are." The girl came out of the darkness next to the creature, but [Michael] was still facing away. "We're more powerful than you think we are if you intend to kill us."

"No killing…yet," said the girl. She took out a dagger and handed it to the creature.

The creature took the dagger and jumped at [Sarah] piercing [her] in the heart and making [her] scream…but no one could hear it…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Jack!"

Jack opened his eyes. For him, he'd only been asleep for 2 seconds when he heard Robert's voice wake him up. Only thing was, he was on the DreamScape and didn't know it. He also didn't remember the spell or anything about what had happened with Robert. "You know, I'm not really in charge of when I wake up."

"Jack!" Jack had never heard his roadrunner cousin talk so whiney.

He also didn't see that the creature was hanging from the ceiling above his bed. As soon as he heard the creature growl at him, he scrambled out of bed.

"Robert" was now standing by the closed door.

Jack went over to him. "The others aren't here, are they? I mean, there was a…a big fight and-"

"You lost them."

"No…I think they need me to find them." He looked at clock. 7:30 AM? He groaned. "It's so early!"

"Huh? Oh, no, that clock's completely wrong." "Robert" reached into his pocket. "Here." He took out the amulet.

"I'm never gonna use that."

"Robert" put the amulet on the table and turned to his cousin. "You think—all of you—that you know…who you are…what you are…what's to come…really, none of you have even begun."

Jack looked at him. "I-I need to go find the others."

"Be back before dawn," "Robert" said to himself.

Jack walked down the hall and looked for the living room. Oddly, enough he didn't find it. Instead, he came to a large desert. "HELLO?" His voice echoed. He turned around and saw the cheese guy holding up 2 slices of cheese, one in each hand. "Uh…no, thanks?" He backed up and ran into "Robert". He turned to face the bird. "What's going on? I'm never gonna find them here."

"That's the idea," "Robert" said, "That's why you came."

"Wait, then…" Jack remembered everything then. "You're not in my dream."

"No, I was borrowed. Someone has to speak for her."

"Why not let her speak for herself?" The 2 birds turned to see Kelly leading the rest of the group up to them, wearing a sweater that covered the spot where her heart had been ripped out. "Why have you been following us?"

"I'm not," "Robert" said.

"Where's Robert, really?" Sarah asked, stepping up to the plate as Jack went over to them for help, "And the missing people?"

"You're asking the wrong questions."

The group turned to see the girl coming up and they finally got a good look at her. She was a brunette with mesmerizing deep blue eyes and she was dressed in a simple grayish tunic. When the group turned back to "Robert", he was gone.

Nadine turned back to the girl. "Who are you?"

"I have many names. Destruction, fire, rage…everyone just calls me Nisha."

"Huh?"

"It means night."

"Oh."

"Or in this case, nightmare." Nisha started to walk toward them. "I gotta give you props on the counter-spell. Locking yourselves in your own little slice of the DreamScape to pull out the missing people and your little friend. Clever. But after midnight tomorrow, you 8 will just be added to the soul count and your essence will reign in mine."

"Do you think you'll be able to hold all that power?"

"I am a Witch, you know. Like 6 of you. Half-blood. As soon as I turned 16, I used this same spell to smite my father. I can still feel his power rushing through me. His scream pounding on my eardrums. I imagine it's the same I'll hear from all the disappeared people when I take their souls. They'll wake up, unlocked from the DreamScape and visible again, and they'll die." She stopped walking. She was now about 5 feet from them. "And you can't fight me." In this sentence, her voice sounded more evil and distorted.

"That's it, I'm waking up!" Jack shut his eyes tight together. Instead of waking him up, this action gave Nisha a chance to zap him, knocking him into the rocks again.

Kelly knocked her down. Nisha pushed her off and aimed to punch her but Kelly kicked her in the stomach just in time and knocked her down the hill.

A fight ensued…er, occurred.

Eventually, Sarah got pinned down. "ENOUGH!" She took out the dagger the creature had stabbed her with earlier and pierced Nisha in the heart.

The creature came out. It was just a dog…a rather…disproportionate dog, but still a dog! The dog jumped at them, so Sarah took out the dagger and pierced it, too.

Nisha screamed. A shriek so bloodcurdling, it pounded the sand below her. She pretty much exploded and the souls she'd absorbed already went flying off in the distance.

Finally, the Loonakids all woke up.

* * *

The Loonakids rushed into the living room.

"The spell is lifted," Jack said, "You guys can finally get some sleep."

"Oh, finally!" Sophie said. She fainted.

"OK, not what I meant."

"Man-it's-a-good-thing-you-guys-came-around-I-mean-we-were-just-about-to-snap-and-I'm-not-sure-how-much-more-we-could've-taken-before-" He stopped when he saw Robert come into the room. "ROBERT!" He rushed up and squeezed his son tightly.

"Dad! Choking…not breathing!"

Rev let go. "Sorry."

Daniella smiled and went over to her son, hugging him, too. "So, I expect that since you've come back all the other disappeared people will come back, as well?"

"Yup," said Sarah, "And, I hate to say it, but…Jack was right!" She clutched her throat. "Such simple words and yet they hurt so much!"

"Well, that'll teach you to doubt me next time I'm right!" Jack said.

"If there is a next time," said Kelly.

"Oh, come on, I'm pretty sure this wasn't even a first time thing!" Jack said, "Right, Mom?" No response. "Mom?" They looked around. Wendy was the only one who wasn't there.

"I'll go check our room." Duck left the room and went to his room.

Jack went off to his room, too, but stopped at the hallway. "At least we didn't all dream about the guy with the cheese. I mean, what was that about?" With that he left.

The other Loonakids looked at each other.

Duck opened the door to his room and walked in, closing the door behind him. "Wendy?"

"I'm in the bathroom," Wendy's voice came from the door on the side of the room.

"Oh, good. Look, it turns out Jack was right. So, you know, Robert came back and all and…you know, I think maybe we shouldn't worry about this 'cause maybe we were only supposed to have one kid so we should-" He stopped himself when he saw Wendy come out of the bathroom and glare at him. "What now?"

"I'm pregnant!"

"Oh! Oh! Well, uh…that wasn't very fair! Uh…let's try that again."

"OK." Wendy went back into the bathroom and then jumped out. "I'm pregnant!"

Duck whooped and they both rejoiced.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

Just a heads-up, the nightmares (except for the ones in the first 2 chapters) were taken from the Buffy episode "Restless", so this is the first story I've posted where more than one chapter is based on the same episode! BTW, I don't own Buffy either. Wish I did, though, so that Willow could have become a witch in the first season instead of the third and she would never have become...well, you know (unless you don't watch the show, in which case, you don't know). Anyway, keep reading!**  
**


End file.
